Daily Archives: May 26, 2008

Oil price, incentive for renewables

Posted on
5

The futures price of oil has reached $133.17 per barrel. From barely $20 at the start of 2002 it has increased almost 7 times as chart below suggests.

The increase in oil price is playing a big role in the rising cost of food among other products and much anguish. However, it is providing the biggest incentive for renewables to start being viable.  With predictions of $200 a barrel, there is no better time to test high cost renewables, create a market and increase economies of scale and cut the cost of production in order to be viable again when the price of oil eventually comes down (or will it?).

The Normalization of Mediocrity

Posted on
Reply

The Art of Nonconformity » The Normalization of Mediocrity

To reverse the acceptance of mediocrity as the new standard, the only escape route is nonconformity through setting your own example of being the anti-mediocre.

Here’s a few ways to do that, and you can probably think of more.

1. Stop rewarding bad behavior. How many restaurants do you know that stay in business for years despite bad food and poor service? Yes, some of them will fail, but others manage to carry on in their carelessness, relaxed in the knowledge that they can continue the hit-or-miss record without any consequences.

2. Refuse to settle. This is hard, because the pressure to conform to mediocrity is all around us. But the more we settle, the more we accept the triumph of the good enough instead of the excellent.

3. Challenge yourself and others away from mediocrity. Stop asking, is it good enough? and start looking to a higher goal. Encourage others in the same fashion.

4. Model excellence. People will be amazed when you do this, in large part because it’s so unusual.

Beyond Carbon 2008

Posted on
1

John O’Brien, who runs Australian Clean Tech is organising the Beyond Carbon 2008 conference on June 3, 2008 in Adelaide, South Australia. It is a 3 days event managed by CEDA. John previously launched the Australian Clean Tech index.

Update: If you are interested, check out the Live Blogging that I have done of the entire conference.

From the blurb that I have got with me:

The conference will explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to a carbon constrained economy, from multiple perspectives and for multiple audiences.

The focus of Beyond Carbon 2008 will not be backward looking at the reasons for the current position, or focus too much on the threats and dangers, but rather will highlight how different groups within the community can work towards building the greatest benefits for themselve and society as a whole, through the transition process.

Beyond Carbon 2008 will be about a direction forward for business, government and the community in assessing the opportunities and risk associated with climate change.

Hon Mike Rann MP Premier and Minister of Sustainability & Climate Change for South Australia will officially open Beyond Carbon 2008.

The conference on the 4th and 5th of June will be managed by LGA SA focussing on the governance of climate change.

Some distinguished speakers are present for the morning and afternoon sessions including; Ray Garrand, Chief Executive of DTED, Professor Dexter Dunphy, Terry Kallis from Petratherm, Christina Jensen from Macquarie Climate Group, Dave Sag from Carbon Planet, Andrew Peterson from PWC and more.

I am attending the event, courtesy of John O’Brien and exploring the option of live blogging the event.

Standby Saturday

Posted on
Reply

Standby saturday is a campaign in Australia to inform, educate and motivate people to action at home and work to switch off all their appliances at the plug point and save almost 10% of energy wasted in standby.

The campaign is scheduled for June 7th, 2008.

Standby Saturday highlights a simple but important step to reduce unnecessary energy wastage – switch off appliances and equipment all the time – every time when not in use, instead of leaving them on standby.

Figures from the International Energy Agency show that, based on 10% energy wastage for domestic residencies, electrical devices left on standby waste an estimated 4.8 Terawatt hours of energy per year and account for nearly 7.7 Megatonnes of carbon emissions each year. This doesn’t include commercial equipment and is equivalent to the total output of Australia’s biggest power station for over 10 days.